TARIFF REFORM AND ITS EFFECTS. 77 



fiteJ (not that they wisli to benefit the farmer 

 in that way) ; and on the other hand, they have 

 said to the farmer that Mr. Chamberlain pro- 

 poses, if his sug<^estions are adopted, still to allow 

 our markets to be "flooded " with corn, which, 

 however, will be produced in the Colonies, and 

 not in foreign countries. Questions or state- 

 ments of this sort are beside the point, and are 

 pure political trickery to which no importance 

 should be attached. Mr. Chamberlain has a very 

 definite object in view, as Ave understand him, 

 and that is to encourage a reciprocal and certain 

 trade with our Colonies, and, at the same time, to 

 cement those bonds of friendship and affection 

 by the additional ties which commerce would 

 give. Accordingl}', in considering his proposals 

 we have noted, like farmers at large, with lively 

 satisfaction, that although there is no special 

 inducement to the British cultivator to increase 

 his area of corn as a profit-growing crop for feed- 

 ing our peojile, there will be every inducement to 

 him to keep more stock, which he will certainly 

 feed at a cheaper rate, increasing his arable 

 area at the same time. More stock means more 

 roots, and, to a certain extent, more straw. 

 Farmers are bound to have straw — even as they 

 have it at present — although it does not prove by 

 itself a profitable thing to grow. 



On the question of manure, the farmer at 

 present relies mainly on the home (or British) 

 manufactured commodity; and, therefore, tariff 

 reform will have practically little effect in this 



